A wealthy businessman takes a wrong turn and has a run-in with a charming hooker. Enamored with her, he invites her to stay with him for the week. Soon, they discover that there’s more to a person than what they do for a living.

PRETTY WOMAN is the closest thing we have to a modern-day Cinderella…you know, if Cinderella was a hooker. But the film is representative of what every man and woman wants in their mate; women want a rich, charming man and men want the virgin whore. PRETTY WOMAN is a great romantic comedy with such wonderful leading stars that they actually make you forget their relationship is, in fact, illegal and would require many hours of community service if they were busted by the police.

I joke about it, but I really do like the film. Julia Roberts deserved the credit she got from this movie because she has the unenviable task of trying to make the audience care for, and fall in love with, a street walker. It’s not that hookers aren’t people too, it’s just that prostitution typically isn’t the profession most men want their wives to be involved in. Gere also did a fine job by not letting his character be too sleazy or emotionless. Audiences really like these two together and it’s not difficult to see why.

It’s hard to find too many things wrong with PRETTY WOMAN. But if I had to make one complaint, it would be with Jason Alexander’s character. I didn’t mind that he was there and served as the “evil” voice in Gere’s head, but I didn’t like that they pushed it to the point where he was willing to rape. That took the film in a direction it didn’t need to go and kind of got us off track with the love story we were watching. But it’s a minor complaint and doesn’t detract from a great film.

I did want to mention that this Blu-ray release from Touchstone is the first time they’ve gotten PRETTY WOMAN right on home video. The first DVD release was non-anamorphic and in mono. The 15th Anniversary edition didn’t have surround sound and was marred with video problems. But this Blu-ray looks and sounds amazing. So even if you’re a modest fan of the film, this is a worthy upgrade over your existing DVD.

Video: Widescreen (1.85:1): Like I said, the video looks great and is a noticeable upgrade over any current DVD.

Audio: English 5.1 with English subtitles: The audio was an even bigger upgrade and we finally get the film in 5.1 surround.

Whatever praise I gave for the drastic video upgrade is negated by the fact they didn’t include the extended cut of the film on this Blu-ray. We didn’t even get the deleted scenes as a special feature.

Commentary with Garry Marshall: Garry Marshall is hilarious and for two hours, I felt like I was talking to a cool grandpa about prostitutes, movies and actors. There are a few too many pauses, but it’s a small price to pay for such a good commentary.

Blooper Reel (2:36): These are great and feature a lot of Julia Roberts being sweet and charming. It’s been a long while since we’ve seen that Julia.

Live From the Wrap Party (4:07): Although too short, this was also pretty cool. Roberts, Gere and Marshall sing a version of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”. Needless to say, Gere has all the musical talent there.

LA: The Pretty Woman Tour (9:11): Garry Marshall takes us through the various locations they used during the filming of the film. It’s more of a commentary than a featurette, but it’s okay. It’s set up like a map that you can navigate through and then Garry talks about the location.

1990 Production Featurette (3:47): This was probably shown in 1990 to try and promote the film, so it doesn’t have much use now that the film is so popular. It’s nice for nostalgia sake, but that’s about it.

There are some Previews

In my book, PRETTY WOMAN falls into an elite class of romantic comedies that have good characters, a good story and great performances. This Blu-ray release is far better than anything we’ve seen on DVD and even though it’s missing the deleted scenes, it’s well worth the upgrade.